Man who admitted taking an intimate recording suffered 'huge fall from grace'

The man pleaded guilty to six charges of making an intimate visual recording and four of making an objectionable image. Photo / File

A Westland man who admitted taking intimate recording of an unknowing woman has suffered a "huge fall from grace", his defence lawyer says.

Yesterday, the man was sentenced in the Greymouth District Court to nine months' home detention, 200 hours of community work and ordered to make a $3000 emotional harm repayment.

The man was given permanent name suppression to prevent the victim of his crimes from being identified. Any details which could lead to the victim's identification were also suppressed.

Just before the start of his jury trial on Monday the man pleaded guilty to six charges of making an intimate visual recording and four of making an objectionable image.

Nine of the offences were committed on August 13 and 14, 2012, and one offence was committed between October 1 and December 24. A further 10 charges were earlier withdrawn after the offender pleaded guilty to the initial 10 charges.

Crown prosecutor Anselm Williams called for a starting point of two and a half years' imprisonment, given the seriousness of the offending.

He said the man had taken videos of the victim in two separate rooms, which he had then downloaded on to a laptop and a tablet, for use later on.

Mr Williams said there had been an "absence of remorse" from the man. When he had been informed that police were planning to search the property, a laptop containing images was incinerated before they arrived.

Further aggravating features of the offending included the man had breached both the victim's privacy, and the position of trust between the two of them.

Non-objectionable pornography, from the same perspective as the videos the man had taken, were also found by police, which Mr Williams said was significant of a sexual motive towards the victim.

Defence lawyer Richard Bodle said the victim had discovered the images on a laptop belonging to the offender in 2012, however it was only when police became involved in an incident between the victim, and someone else known to the man, that the victim made the accusations about the images and recordings.

The incident had meant the victim, who had already been vulnerable before the offending had occurred, was now in an even more "fragile" mental state, Mr Bodle said.

He also said the man accepted he had had a "completely destructive" effect on the victim, though he had not intended to do so.

Mr Bodle said the man, who had been a "solid member of the community", had suffered a "huge fall from grace".

He said the offender was genuinely remorseful for his actions.

Judge David Saunders said the victim had been "gravely affected" by the man's offending, one of a number of things which had happened in the victim's life.

However, he shied away from sending him to prison, given his previous good character. Judge Saunders said the offender would benefit from rehabilitation, however Community Probation informed the judge that only four hours a fortnight of counselling might be available.

The judge discounted the starting sentence by three months for a lack of previous convictions, and by a further three months for the offer of an emotional harm repayment. He also gave a 15 per cent credit for a guilty plea.

As the final custodial sentence was less than two years, Judge Saunders said he was able to consider a sentence of home detention rather than imprisonment.

-Greymouth Star